Chapter 65: Rebellion in Nanzhong

On the large storied vessel.

"Brother Zhao, you always go on about how you Qin people are invincible under heaven, invincible under heaven. How is it that you were defeated by Captain Gan?" Gan Jiu asked Zhao Six, who was busy boasting about the martial prowess of the Qin people.

Back when Liu Zhang had assigned a thousand Dongzhou soldiers to Gan Ning's command, most of them refused to submit to Gan Ning, a man of Ba. Zhao Six, who hailed from Guanzhong, had been the most unruly trouble-maker among them.

To win the respect of these Dongzhou soldiers, Gan Ning had proposed a wager: in horse combat, foot combat, or naval combat, anyone who could defeat him would take over his position as captain. Hearing this, many Dongzhou men stepped forward to try their luck.

Yet the outcome was entirely predictable. Not a single one of the deployed Dongzhou soldiers who dared to fight was a match for Gan Ning.

Zhao Six, the very first to challenge Gan Ning, suffered a crushing defeat. Since the military had always revered martial valor, he grew utterly convinced of Gan Ning's superiority and submitted wholeheartedly.

Hearing Gan Jiu's slightly teasing tone, Zhao Six showed no sign of anger. Instead, he calmly replied, "Brother Gan, back during the reign of King Huiwen of Qin, our Great Qin annexed Ba and Shu. When it came to the merits of unifying the six states, the people of Ba and Shu had their share. In a sense, the people of Ba and Shu are also Qin people."

"As a Qin man, being defeated by a fellow Qin man is only natural. Since Captain Gan possesses such formidable martial might, doesn't that simply prove that we Qin people are invincible?"

"Although Captain Gan hails from the Ba region, who is to say he didn't migrate there from Guanzhong? He can well be considered a true old Qin man."

"Well, well," Gan Jiu muttered. This Zhao Six from Guanzhong had truly reached an extraordinary level of shamelessness to utter such words. People always said the Qin people were honest and steadfast, yet he could not find a single trace of such qualities in Zhao Six.

He retorted sharply, "If you have the guts, go say those words to Captain Gan himself."

"Hah," Zhao Six waved his hand, not daring to provoke Gan Ning in the least. "Brother Gan, I only say these things because I treat you as a brother. Don't go repeating them."

Gan Jiu shook his head helplessly. Zhao Six was full of empty boasts and possessed an exceptionally thick skin; there was simply nothing he could do with him.

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On another storied vessel.

"Captain, this time the rebels of Bajun have risen against Governor Liu, and we Dongzhou men are pacifying the rebellion on his behalf. This will be another great merit."

"Come to think of it, this newly appointed Governor Liu is quite a decent person. He always rewards merit, but he lacks the leniency of the former Governor of Yizhou [Liu Yan]. He keeps us on a tight leash, and that Officer Wu he appointed enforces the law with utmost strictness—he never shows the slightest leniency." Xu Ming, a company commander under Xu Meng, could not help complaining.

He missed the days when Liu Yan was in power. Back then, whenever they Dongzhou men made a mistake, they were always let off with a blind eye. It was never like Wu Yi's enforcement of the law, where whatever the crime was, that was the punishment; those who deserved a beating were beaten, and those who deserved execution were put to death, without a shred of sentimentality.

However, Wu Yi was also an outsider who could be counted among the faction of the Dongzhou people. Coupled with Wu Yi's esteemed status, this tempered their complaints somewhat, though grievances still remained.

"Hmph, rising against Governor Liu?" Xu Meng let out a cold snort, turning the question back on Xu Ming. "If these scoundrels were to overthrow Governor Liu, do you think you and I would have any good days left?"

Hearing this, Xu Ming immediately shook his head. Liu Zhang, for all his faults, was an outsider who relied on them to some extent. Although Liu Zhang enforced the law more harshly and was not as indulgent toward them as Liu Yan had been, their treatment was still decent overall.

If the native people of Shu were to seize supreme power, outsiders like them would likely live in daily terror, with their lives hanging by a thread.

"On the surface, it is a rebellion against Governor Liu, but in truth, it is aimed right at us Dongzhou people," Xu Meng pointed out, laying bare the real motive of the Bajun rebels.

When Liu Yan was in power, they Dongzhou men had run amok and broken the laws with impunity, breeding resentment throughout Ba and Shu. The locals had simply suppressed their anger and dared not act out of fear of Liu Yan's might.

Liu Zhang had just assumed the office of Governor of Yizhou without having committed any faults, yet the rebels of Bajun were rising against him—which made no logical sense. When all was said and done, this was largely trouble brought upon Liu Zhang by the Dongzhou people themselves.

Unlike Xu Ming, who harbored complaints, Xu Meng held deep admiration for Liu Zhang. Although Liu Zhang lacked Liu Yan's indulgence, his virtue in treating scholars with courtesy and his brilliance surpassed him. He interacted with rough military men like ordinary friends, unlike certain high-minded scholars who cared only for classical studies and dismissed them as mere soldiers.

Furthermore, Liu Zhang had promised him that one day he would lead them back to their homeland, a pledge that outweighed everything else.

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On the flagship.

Liu Zhang gazed out the window, awaiting the arrival of Huang Quan and Wu Yi, whom he had summoned.

His thoughts turned to Zhang Song and Xi Su, who had departed for Jingzhou. He wondered how the two of them were faring at present.

Although in history Zhang Song had once betrayed his master in search of a worthy lord, the current situation differed vastly from the past. The master of Jingzhou was not Liu Xuande, whose benevolence and trust were renowned throughout the world, but rather Liu Biao, a mere armchair talker.

Presumably, Zhang Song would not betray him; he only wondered how well Zhang Song was handling his mission.

He had borrowed the head of Liu Han, returning the Jingzhou Attendant Officer back to Jingzhou just as he had promised, though minus the torso.

At times, a dead man proved more useful than a living one.

With Liu Han's death, all blame could be shifted onto him, temporarily forging an alliance with Liu Biao and relieving Yizhou of any worries from the east.

For the time being, he wished to avoid conflict with Jingzhou. With Zhang Lu in Hanchang, the barbarians in Nanzhong, and Zhao Wei in Chengdu, he was beset by troubles both internal and external. To pacify external threats, one must first secure the interior—an axiom taught by the Grand Logistics Commander Chiang Kai-shek that he kept firmly in mind.

Yet Jingzhou could not be allowed to look down on them either, which depended entirely on how well Zhang Song performed his role as an envoy.

Huang Quan and Wu Yi announced their presence and walked into the chamber.

Liu Zhang withdrew his gaze from the window, handed the dispatches sent from Chengdu on the desk to Huang Quan, and simultaneously conveyed the news contained within: "The barbarians in the dependent states of Yuexi and Jianwei have revolted, attacking the commanderies and counties. The barbarians in Zangke Commandery have also rebelled, and have actually placed the Administrator of Zangke under arrest."

"The barbarians in Yizhou Commandery are in turmoil, and the county garrisons are unable to withstand them. Administrator Gao Yi has sent a letter to Chengdu requesting troops for suppression. As for Yongchang Commandery, the roads are cut off, and with no news getting through, their situation remains unknown."

With the exception of Jianwei Commandery, which lay slightly further north, and Yongchang Commandery, whose status was unknown, virtually all the commanderies in Nanzhong were plagued by barbarian uprisings.

The entire Nanzhong region was in a state of boiling agitation, presenting a rather grim picture.

Yet while ostensibly a barbarian rebellion, it was in truth spearheaded by Han local magnates. Much like when Liu Ji passed away and the Nanzhong region of Shu-Han had similarly erupted into turmoil.

At that time, Yong Kai, a Han magnate of Yizhou Commandery, took advantage of the chaos following Shu-Han's defeat at Yiling, Liu Ji's death from illness, and Huang Yuan's rebellion to persuade Zhu Bao, the Administrator of Zangke Commandery, Gao Ding, the barbarian king of Yuexi Commandery, and Meng Huo, a prominent clan leader of Yizhou Commandery, to rise in joint rebellion.

Yong Kai had killed Zheng Ang, the Administrator of Yizhou Commandery, and seized his successor, Zhang Yi, sending him off to Eastern Wu. Yuexi Commandery had slain the commandery general Jiao Huang, while Zangke Commandery had killed the official Chang Qi, causing the entire Nanzhong region to rebel collectively against the Shu-Han regime.

By comparison, the situation Zhuge Liang had faced in Nanzhong was far worse than Liu Zhang's current predicament.

At the very least, Liu Zhang lacked the external threat of Sun Wu, and the current administrators in Nanzhong were still putting up resistance and had yet to be killed.

Recalling how Zhuge Liang, after a period of recuperation and rest, launched a massive southern expedition that quickly pacified Nanzhong, Liu Zhang maintained a calm expression. Although the Nanzhong situation looked bleak, dispatching troops for suppression would mean that once the heavenly army arrived, the rebels would scatter of their own accord.

The trouble was that as soon as the heavenly army departed, the barbarians would grow restless once more—such was the cyclical pattern of rebellion and pacification in Nanzhong during the era of Liu Yan.

As a time-traveler, Liu Zhang naturally would not follow in the footsteps of his father Liu Yan: sending troops whenever a rebellion broke out in Nanzhong, withdrawing them once it was pacified, only for another revolt to erupt the moment the army retreated—a repeating, wearisome cycle.

He possessed a ready-made solution to the Nanzhong problem: plagiarizing Marquis Wu Zhuge's measures for dealing with Nanzhong.

A permanent and definitive solution.